Beatty, who pleaded guilty to two felony charges in the text message scandal but refused to cooperate with prosecutors investigating Kilpatrick, didn’t respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Her lawyer, Mayer Morganroth, said Beatty was hired to work on publications for the civic fund and spent some of her fee on subcontractors, including printers. He said Beatty disclosed the payments to probation officials in her criminal case and declared it on her tax return.

In light of the Free Press’ findings, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office plans to examine the civic fund’s dealings with Maiyen Consulting.

“There was some preliminary research regarding this particular consulting contract, however, we focused on other matters connected to the civic fund,” prosecutor spokeswoman Maria Miller said Wednesday. “Given this information, we will be looking into this further.”

But Morganroth said Beatty performed quality work.

“I’ve seen the work done. It was valuable and important work,” he said. “She had to try to make a living.”

As the text message scandal unfolded that year, the nonprofit Kilpatrick Civic Fund, run by the mayor’s sister, Ayanna Kilpatrick, paid Beatty’s consulting firm more than $100,000, according to federal tax records the Kilpatrick fund filed last November. The civic fund, which Beatty used to help manage, did not say in the tax report precisely how much Beatty’s consulting firm was paid. Morganroth would not divulge the exact amount either, though he said Wednesday that it was “slightly more” than $100,000.